Friday, August 20, 2010
Barcelona
We are a few days into our vacation to Barcelona! We have had a pretty good time so far. The first night we were here we saw part of the Olympic installations for the 1992 Summer games that were held here. Yesterday, we went on a bike tour through the city and saw a concert at the opera house of a blind jazz/swing piano player (excellent!). Today we toured the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell which are both creations by Antoni Gaudi (breath-taking!). Here's a picture of us in front of a fountain at the Parc de la Ciutadella. More to come later!
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Sounds of Friedrichshafen - Part 2
So, after talking to Brian about my previous blog post, we came up with a few more "sounds" to include.
Raindrops
This is a sound that we definitely wish we didn't hear as much as we do! Since we've been here, it's been rainy most days. We have a few nice days here and there, but mostly it rains at some point during the day. The rain isn't always very hard, but it is definitely steady. It was relatively warm at the beginning even when it was raining, but the last couple of days have been in the 60s and rainy. We are looking forward to heading to Barcelona, Spain tomorrow where it should be in the low 80s and sunny.
Car Engine
Maybe this one is cheating, but this is a sound we have NOT experienced much in the last few weeks! We do not have a car here (yet!), so we have not heard the sound of a car engine starting for the last two weeks. Last night we went with a friend out for dinner and he picked us up in his car. It was strange to get into a car after it has been so long! We'll see how long we can go without driving a car. I'm definitely not excited to do that here!
Jingling Coins
Perhaps this is a sound that we heard in the US, but we definitely hear it with more regularity here! In the US, we usually bought things with our debit card and rarely had cash. Since we get hit with the exchange rate and a fee every time we use our debit card, we have been taking out cash to pay for things (plus, many places don't accept a debit card). Because of this, we have more coins in our pockets and sometimes find it hard to use them up because it is hard to remember to use them. Plus, they look different and are different denominations than in the US, so sometimes we forget how to use them. We try our hardest to use them, but sometimes we just want to do things fast and not look dumb looking through the coins to find the ones we need. :)
We're headed to Barcelona for the next week, so hopefully after that I will have some pictures to post up here. I had a picture of Brian in the rain to put with this post, but we already packed the camera, so I'll have to put it up later.
Raindrops
This is a sound that we definitely wish we didn't hear as much as we do! Since we've been here, it's been rainy most days. We have a few nice days here and there, but mostly it rains at some point during the day. The rain isn't always very hard, but it is definitely steady. It was relatively warm at the beginning even when it was raining, but the last couple of days have been in the 60s and rainy. We are looking forward to heading to Barcelona, Spain tomorrow where it should be in the low 80s and sunny.
Car Engine
Maybe this one is cheating, but this is a sound we have NOT experienced much in the last few weeks! We do not have a car here (yet!), so we have not heard the sound of a car engine starting for the last two weeks. Last night we went with a friend out for dinner and he picked us up in his car. It was strange to get into a car after it has been so long! We'll see how long we can go without driving a car. I'm definitely not excited to do that here!
Jingling Coins
Perhaps this is a sound that we heard in the US, but we definitely hear it with more regularity here! In the US, we usually bought things with our debit card and rarely had cash. Since we get hit with the exchange rate and a fee every time we use our debit card, we have been taking out cash to pay for things (plus, many places don't accept a debit card). Because of this, we have more coins in our pockets and sometimes find it hard to use them up because it is hard to remember to use them. Plus, they look different and are different denominations than in the US, so sometimes we forget how to use them. We try our hardest to use them, but sometimes we just want to do things fast and not look dumb looking through the coins to find the ones we need. :)
We're headed to Barcelona for the next week, so hopefully after that I will have some pictures to post up here. I had a picture of Brian in the rain to put with this post, but we already packed the camera, so I'll have to put it up later.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Sounds of Friedrichshafen
One of the most noticeable things about moving to Friedrichshafen is the different sounds that we are growing accustomed to. Here's a list of those sounds and why we deal with them on a daily basis.
Train
Across our street and through a row of trees is the train tracks. We hear trains several times an hour throughout the day and night. Unlike American trains, these German trains are not as loud and do not last as long. They are past in less than 30 seconds and are not nearly as noisy as American trains. Definitely not as much of a nuisance as living next to American train tracks would be!
Airplanes
We may have lived between 2 airports in Belleville, but we definitely are more aware of the planes here in Friedrichshafen! We are in the direct flight path of planes flying into the Friedrichshafen Flughafen (Airport) which is closer to us than either the Detroit Metro or Willow Run airports were. On the plus side, only a few (like 3-4 on a good day) flights fly into the Friedrichshafen airport per day. If we were in the direct flight path of the Detroit Metro airport, we definitely would not complain about the number of flights we deal with now. The only problem with this is that several times a day it seems as though an airplane is going to land in our living room!
Heels
We are growing accustomed to the sound of heels on tile! The hallway/stairway of our apartment is covered in tile and the woman who lives above us (who is quite nice - we met her yesterday!) likes to wear heels. We hear her whenever she walks up or down the stairs and sometimes even when she is in the apartment.
Saxophone
The son of the woman who wears heels is a budding saxophone player. We have heard him practice (usually only scales and arpeggios) on the weekends. He usually doesn't last for very long, so it's generally not a problem to listen to him.
Bike bells
Because one of the most common modes of transportation here is bikes, we hear a lot of bike bells while we are out walking. We have learned that Germans do not ring their bells in disgust with another biker or walker, but rather as a polite request for the slower person ahead of them to move to the right so that they can pass. It has taken a little getting used to the fact that the ringing of the bell is not an impolite noise, but rather one for our own safety.
Zeppelin
Since we live in the birthplace of the zeppelin, it is common to hear the whir of the propellers of the zeppelin. On nice days, a zeppelin flies around the Bodensee for people who have enough money to pay for the quite expensive ride. Brian and I joke a lot that we are being stalked by a big giant white blimp whenever we see it. :)
Tennis balls
This may seem like an odd sound to hear regularly, but it's not when your backyard shares a property line with a tennis club. Our balcony overlooks a tennis club and we often hear the bouncing of tennis balls since it is nice out right now to play tennis. Last week was some sort of kids camp and this week I have seen mostly older men playing together.
German
Everywhere we go, we hear this! I am getting good at blocking out German and basically just tuning out people when they are talking around me because I can't understand them at all. Sometimes this comes back to bite me though! One day in the cafe, a woman was talking and I was ignoring her. After several sentences, I realized she was talking to me and that she wanted me to watch her desserts as she got her friend. Today, I ignored a man until I realized that he wanted to know if he could have the newspaper that was sitting on the table that I was at. We hope to start German lessons in the next month, so hopefully I'll be able to help people when they want something relatively simple from me!
Train
Across our street and through a row of trees is the train tracks. We hear trains several times an hour throughout the day and night. Unlike American trains, these German trains are not as loud and do not last as long. They are past in less than 30 seconds and are not nearly as noisy as American trains. Definitely not as much of a nuisance as living next to American train tracks would be!
Airplanes
We may have lived between 2 airports in Belleville, but we definitely are more aware of the planes here in Friedrichshafen! We are in the direct flight path of planes flying into the Friedrichshafen Flughafen (Airport) which is closer to us than either the Detroit Metro or Willow Run airports were. On the plus side, only a few (like 3-4 on a good day) flights fly into the Friedrichshafen airport per day. If we were in the direct flight path of the Detroit Metro airport, we definitely would not complain about the number of flights we deal with now. The only problem with this is that several times a day it seems as though an airplane is going to land in our living room!
Heels
We are growing accustomed to the sound of heels on tile! The hallway/stairway of our apartment is covered in tile and the woman who lives above us (who is quite nice - we met her yesterday!) likes to wear heels. We hear her whenever she walks up or down the stairs and sometimes even when she is in the apartment.
Saxophone
The son of the woman who wears heels is a budding saxophone player. We have heard him practice (usually only scales and arpeggios) on the weekends. He usually doesn't last for very long, so it's generally not a problem to listen to him.
Bike bells
Because one of the most common modes of transportation here is bikes, we hear a lot of bike bells while we are out walking. We have learned that Germans do not ring their bells in disgust with another biker or walker, but rather as a polite request for the slower person ahead of them to move to the right so that they can pass. It has taken a little getting used to the fact that the ringing of the bell is not an impolite noise, but rather one for our own safety.
Zeppelin
Since we live in the birthplace of the zeppelin, it is common to hear the whir of the propellers of the zeppelin. On nice days, a zeppelin flies around the Bodensee for people who have enough money to pay for the quite expensive ride. Brian and I joke a lot that we are being stalked by a big giant white blimp whenever we see it. :)
Tennis balls
This may seem like an odd sound to hear regularly, but it's not when your backyard shares a property line with a tennis club. Our balcony overlooks a tennis club and we often hear the bouncing of tennis balls since it is nice out right now to play tennis. Last week was some sort of kids camp and this week I have seen mostly older men playing together.
German
Everywhere we go, we hear this! I am getting good at blocking out German and basically just tuning out people when they are talking around me because I can't understand them at all. Sometimes this comes back to bite me though! One day in the cafe, a woman was talking and I was ignoring her. After several sentences, I realized she was talking to me and that she wanted me to watch her desserts as she got her friend. Today, I ignored a man until I realized that he wanted to know if he could have the newspaper that was sitting on the table that I was at. We hope to start German lessons in the next month, so hopefully I'll be able to help people when they want something relatively simple from me!
Sunday, August 8, 2010
First Week in Deutschland
In case you're wondering...we're still in Germany! We don't have Internet set up in our apartment yet, so we have to walk about 25 minutes to a cafe that has wireless Internet and power outlets. I've bought many scoops of eis (ice cream), apfelsafts (apple juice), and other things to not feel guilty about sitting in this cafe for hours using the Internet. We have a month-long subscription, so hopefully our Internet will be up and going by that point.
We are now officially residents of Friedrichshafen and can stay in Germany for one year. We got our residency stamp and our visas in our passports this week which was definitely the most important thing for us to do right away. We have to go back again when our visas expire to renew them for another year, but that shouldn't be too hard. We spent multiple mornings this week going to the Rathaus (city hall) to figure this all out with the help of one of Brian's co-workers that speaks English and has had to do this all recently for his wife who is from Brazil.
Our apartment is very large. Definitely an upgrade in size from our apartment in Belleville! There are definitely some things that need to be replaced, but MTU will hopefully pay for most of that (since it belongs to them) and we just have to make sure we go about purchasing these things in the correct way. I will take some pictures of our apartment and post them on the blog sometime. We have a guest bedroom and bathroom, so we will definitely take any visitors we can get!
It has been pretty rainy here this week. The first weekend we got here was gorgeous, but it has rained some almost every day since then. Only one day was hard rain, but the steady drizzle is not the most pleasant. Brian walks to work in his rain suit and I have an umbrella to use. The temperature has been about 70 most of the time.
Brian started work on Monday and has been slightly frustrated with the amount of German that his co-workers use around him. This will take some getting used to and some learning of the language. We hope to take German lessons soon, but those have not been set up yet.
Brian has the second two weeks of August off, so we are planning a vacation to Barcelona for one of those weeks. There is a budget airline here that offers very cheap flights, so we decided to go to Barcelona. My sister did an English bike tour recently in London and Paris and this same one is in Barcelona. We hope to do that and then take the rest of the days to explore things a bit further on our own. We're still in the midst of planning the whole trip, but the flights have been booked!
All our luggage made it here so far! We are still waiting on our load from the boat, but we have heard that it may be here already by August 23. We have to get some paperwork so that it can go through customs, but we hope to have that on Monday so that it can start to make it's way further here. There are definitely things we are looking forward to having again!
We are looking forward to having two sets of visitors soon. My friend, Becky, is coming the beginning of September for a long weekend and will be our guinea pig for flying into Zurich and then taking the train/ferry to Friedrichshafen. Brian's best friend's parents, the Monsma's, are coming to visit the middle of September in a trip around Germany that they are taking. It will be nice to see people we know well again!
Here's some pictures of the first few days that we were here. We haven't taken as many pictures because we know we will be here longer than we were the last time. :)
We are now officially residents of Friedrichshafen and can stay in Germany for one year. We got our residency stamp and our visas in our passports this week which was definitely the most important thing for us to do right away. We have to go back again when our visas expire to renew them for another year, but that shouldn't be too hard. We spent multiple mornings this week going to the Rathaus (city hall) to figure this all out with the help of one of Brian's co-workers that speaks English and has had to do this all recently for his wife who is from Brazil.
Our apartment is very large. Definitely an upgrade in size from our apartment in Belleville! There are definitely some things that need to be replaced, but MTU will hopefully pay for most of that (since it belongs to them) and we just have to make sure we go about purchasing these things in the correct way. I will take some pictures of our apartment and post them on the blog sometime. We have a guest bedroom and bathroom, so we will definitely take any visitors we can get!
It has been pretty rainy here this week. The first weekend we got here was gorgeous, but it has rained some almost every day since then. Only one day was hard rain, but the steady drizzle is not the most pleasant. Brian walks to work in his rain suit and I have an umbrella to use. The temperature has been about 70 most of the time.
Brian started work on Monday and has been slightly frustrated with the amount of German that his co-workers use around him. This will take some getting used to and some learning of the language. We hope to take German lessons soon, but those have not been set up yet.
Brian has the second two weeks of August off, so we are planning a vacation to Barcelona for one of those weeks. There is a budget airline here that offers very cheap flights, so we decided to go to Barcelona. My sister did an English bike tour recently in London and Paris and this same one is in Barcelona. We hope to do that and then take the rest of the days to explore things a bit further on our own. We're still in the midst of planning the whole trip, but the flights have been booked!
All our luggage made it here so far! We are still waiting on our load from the boat, but we have heard that it may be here already by August 23. We have to get some paperwork so that it can go through customs, but we hope to have that on Monday so that it can start to make it's way further here. There are definitely things we are looking forward to having again!
We are looking forward to having two sets of visitors soon. My friend, Becky, is coming the beginning of September for a long weekend and will be our guinea pig for flying into Zurich and then taking the train/ferry to Friedrichshafen. Brian's best friend's parents, the Monsma's, are coming to visit the middle of September in a trip around Germany that they are taking. It will be nice to see people we know well again!
Here's some pictures of the first few days that we were here. We haven't taken as many pictures because we know we will be here longer than we were the last time. :)
Our first view of the Bodensee.
The ferry that Becky will take from Romanshorn, Switzerland to Friedrichshafen.
The MTU part of the fountain with water actually flowing!
Brian's first Hefeweizen while living here.
Yummy! Beth's kasspaetzle (Swabian noodles with cheese and onions).
Our Radlers (beer and lemonade) in sheepie mugs!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Deutschland!
We have made it to Germany!
I just wanted to write a little update so that people who are checking this know that we made it here. We don't have our own Internet yet, so we are using other people's until we get our own. We may not have Internet for another month yet, but we'd still appreciate getting e-mails to hear from people back home. Brian can check our e-mail at work.
Our apartment is very nice and Brian had his first day of work today. We go to do stuff with our Visa tomorrow, so hopefully that goes smoothly. We're still getting used to the time difference, so we sleep alot.
Thanks for checking in with us!
I just wanted to write a little update so that people who are checking this know that we made it here. We don't have our own Internet yet, so we are using other people's until we get our own. We may not have Internet for another month yet, but we'd still appreciate getting e-mails to hear from people back home. Brian can check our e-mail at work.
Our apartment is very nice and Brian had his first day of work today. We go to do stuff with our Visa tomorrow, so hopefully that goes smoothly. We're still getting used to the time difference, so we sleep alot.
Thanks for checking in with us!
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